starting with students joining WPI in fall of 2026, all students admitted under an Early Decision application plan will be offered a minimum merit-based scholarship of $25,000 per academic year, for up to four years.
Additionally, they are now offering the Innovation Award, a $25,000 book award to high school juniors, which is similar to RPI’s Renesslear Medal.
It’s interesting.
Obviously, some top tier private schools see 50% or so of enrollees come via ED. Last year, WPI had 211 of 1366 or 15.4%. Many of those may have been hooked - so natural ED is likely not high.
On the other hand, their acceptance rate is relatively high (60%) but yield about 18%. But take out the ED applicants, you have 1154 enrollees in 7344 acceptances non ED or a bit lower than 16% - so about 6.3 acceptances per enrollee. They actually had to admit 392 off the wait list to get to their class # - which is pretty large. No idea of how many of those 392 enrolled.
558 first years got merit aid of near $23K - and if few were doing ED before, perhaps this doesn’t cost the school that much more money while at the same time assuring a revenue flow.
One thing that is promising for the school - the most recent Moody’s report is very positive on the school and they have a strong A2 rating. There’s many schools struggling so it’s great to see a school is doing so well and I’m sure this will help them to ensure revenues and perhaps stave off competition from schools like RPI, RIT, the Northeastern flagship schools, and others their accptees consider.
From Moody’s:
December 15, 2025
The credit rating firm Moody’s has revised its outlook on Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), elevating it to stable while affirming the university’s A2 issuer and revenue bond ratings—a reflection of WPI’s improved financial performance, strong liquidity, and continued demand for its STEM-focused academic programs.
The outlook upgrade signals confidence in WPI’s financial trajectory, citing healthier operating margins and expectations that the university will continue to strengthen its balance sheet. Moody’s highlighted WPI’s solid financial foundation and pointed to its strong brand and strategic positioning, particularly its focus on high-demand science, technology, engineering, and mathematics programs.
"This outlook upgrade reflects a plan the university put in place two years ago and executed with discipline,” said Michael Horan, executive vice president and chief financial officer. “At a time when many institutions are facing financial headwinds, WPI made early, strategic decisions that are now delivering results, affirming our long-term stability and stewardship of the university.”
The stable outlook reflects Moody’s expectation that WPI will continue to preserve its strong market position, sustain operating margins, and grow institutional resources responsibly.
It will be interesting to see how this impacts the number of ED apps they receive, and how much of the class they take in ED going forward.
Not a fan of ED spiffs at all. I sure hope their NPC is accurate so those who aren’t full pay might be able to apply ED if the school is their first choice (and the NPC shows affordability.)
If they’re going to offer Automatic merit for ED it’s basically just a price reduction
These inflated cost of attendance really annoys me. Who is going to pay $85k MSRP to WPI?
We’d like to offer you a fake $25k scholarship because we know no one will pay $85k.
And by the way, UMass is only $30k if you want to go somewhere that’s half the cost even after our fake scholarship.
Right, but it’s an inequitable discount…one that’s geared to attracting more full pay students and/or students who don’t feel the need to compare financial aid offers in the spring.
It’s not clear how this ED discount might impact RD discounting. Average ‘merit’ aid give to 2024-25 students without need was a bit more than $22K. Who knows if that will persist or there will be a shift to more in ED, assuming more students also apply/are accepted ED.
Per the 2024-25 CDS looks like a few hundred students. No judgment on that from me.
I know a few or at least St Olaf does. They’re likely spiffing these kids anyway. But agree - I don’t like the strategy either - but it shows people again, these are businesses first and foremost.
I wonder if competitors will now start as well but WPI might have the advantage given their strong financial profile.
With 59% of last year’s class getting an average grant of $36k and 41% getting merit aid of near $23k - and we don’t know how many are in both columns - but this might be much ado about nothing - but a wise marketing strategy. I wonder how many are paying in full?
I’m guess that’s exactly what this is.
We see things like need aware schools giving tuition promises, one even switching to need aware with their promise.
It may be a lot of smoke and mirrors.
Plenty of schools offer ED spiffs. That’s allowed after the NACAC-DOJ settlement from 5-6 years ago. Even though it’s allowed, I still don’t like it.
I expect WPI is doing this simply to attract more ED students.
No one. I believe WPI gives all accepted students a “presidential scholarship” of some sort.
Agreed. They are simply cutting their price for the full pay ED applicants (and also those applying but needing additional aid) and are offering a bit more of a discount in exchange for a commitment. Interesting.
Are they international students?
If some people are willing to pay it (for whatever reason), it makes sense to charge it.
You would have to ask WPI, they don’t break out the data that way. Looks like on average, international students receive about $25K in discounts. No breakout between need and merit. That’s in section H6 of the CDS link above.
We could go figure it out, but I expect WPI is subsidizing full pay students too (like many schools)…meaning their operating expenses to provide an education are greater than the gross COA.
I’m guessing since 13 days ago Moody’s said they are unlike other institutions and maintain strong operating margins, this may not be the case.
And they are in the sweet spot - a STEM education - Moody’s noted. And it’s authentic vs others who are ditching the humanities and trying to get there.
Perhaps they are subsidizing and earning that additional backing through things like summer programs - but you rarely see a bond rating write up about a school that’s so positive. Most are spending in excess of revenues.
So they have seem to found the secret sauce.
And they’ve made moves like moving from steam to hot water. Means zero to me but saving $40 mil over 45 years.
So they seem to have a great strategy and business model.
I can’t comment on their financials without a deep dive, but like many colleges WPI’s operating expenses are greater than operating revenues. WPI also saw a net decrease in cash for 2024-25, which I think is the most recent data.
I don’t begrudge anyone who is able to do so without it affecting their financial bottom line to spend their money as they see fit. Who knows— maybe they want a school with a summer option? Small size but varied engineering options and project based learning? Or just want to go where the segway was developed?? Who knows?? But if a student feels WPI is a better fit for them that UMass and they can and will pay for it, That is their right and their choice.
Thx. Couldn’t find.
I looked at their CDS. It seems their yield is only 18%.
Isnt that low? If so, I can see why they want more ED students and are offering incentives upfront to lock them in.
Yup, thats low! Old rule used to be that if the yield was below 20% schools had a tough time with budget planning. So inticing/luring more students to apply ED will increase yield.
WPI is not the type of school where applicants are traditionally hooked. However, I do think that a number of those ED applicant may have been from their summer program. Kids often fall in love with the school while attending, and those who participate in their summer program are typically offered early interviews and a “nod toward” admission. WPI is not known to give ED candidates a boost toward admission, and it is not common for kids to feel that they need to ED there, especially given the tuition. Even kids we know who had WPI as a clear top choice and could afford it did not ED there. We know kids who have turned down Stanford, Brown, and CalTech to go there.
WPI competes with RPI, which I suspect is a reason for the new Innovators Scholarship. I have looked at the RPI Medal as a way to get otherwise full-pay top students to ED, knowing they will get a specified amount of merit before they even apply.
I also think that their price, and sometimes stingy merit, affects their yield. Just look at CC to see how many students wanted to go, but couldn’t make the financials work. Almost everyone gets the Presidential Scholarship, but it doesn’t bring the cost down enough. Apparently, this award is stackable (unlike the RPI medal).
WPI is often the first choice from our high school. Most can not afford full-pay. I’m not sure if 25K would make a difference in that. But stacked with Presidential, we’re looking at at least 47k. That’s a game-changer.